>> good afternoon. i'm laurence cornfield chief building inspect or. we're at the brown bag lunch serious. we're here with the department of public works street use and mapping section. nick has been here for 23 years. >> 23 -- who's counting. >> and we will talk today about streets and sidewalks. mostly about sidewalks and a number of the related important issues in san francisco disabled access, hazards, encroachments. what they mean and how you can solve the problems. and maintenance responsibilities, who's responsible. good point. want to welcome you all and invite you to ask your questions. this is a dialogue and discussion. the weather is cool and might rain. we will keep the pace up and keep ourselves warm. we have a guest joining us, a

special guest. a structural engineer who does a lot of work in the city with street and sidewalks and repair. >> nice to see you. >> he does a lot of the work for subsidewalk basements. many builds which down the face of the building ask extend under the sidewalk is and need a permit from department of public works. >> annual assessment fees courtesy of the board of supervisors. now 3 dollars per square foot. >> we will talk about that in a few minutes much let's start by talking about where the street meets the sidewalk much the big issues we're involved in san tran is trying to make san francisco a disabled friendly city. here this front of us we have one of the series of ramps that allow people to get from the sidewalk to the street and vice versa. >> early generation.

>> third generation installing ramps? >> approximately. around that. okay. and some had to be replaced to meet current interpretations of the ada ask changes can the mary ann with disabilities act standards much what can you tell us about this ramp, nick. >> like pat said its one of the old style ramps. would not meet current standards. it has this little guide strip, if somebody has a cane, they can feel there is a change in level chicago and other changes occurring which is the purpose of that. >> its important in san francisco where we have steeply slopped streets. if the streets slope steetly you may not notice it. that's why we have the warning

tracts. we also do it in color. we have a color change. >> low vision. >> this sidewalk has to have a different shade. >> part of the ada requirements contrasting color for the -- >> exactly. on some of the newer ramps you see the truncated zones. >> they are the big yellow flat. >> exactly. >> a bright yellow panel that attaches itself that could either be adhesive placed on existing ramps. the rest of the ramp is compliant or when new ramps are being constructed its incorporated into the actual sidewalk core. the use is for the low visually impaired and the blind because one of the blind person protection point is a concrete

curb. here's the edge of the curb and they know that there is a haz d hazardous conditions where cars might be. they have no way of seeing if they are heading to the roadway thus the yellow bumpses. >> there is a new onyou have done is when you tap on this this is a hollow sound you can hear because they don't set it hard to the concrete. when you are walking ask tapping ask hit concrete you have one sound much when you hit the plastic you have a different sound and you may be visually impaired but you have hearing and go, i got something, the stick will tap differently. >> so this ramp only is on one side of the corner. sometimes i see ramps on both sides one this way and one that way is that the standard? >> that is the standard when there is a crossing in both

directions. here across this little alley there is a crossing. there is a pedestrian crossing. this is a complicated thing to william build. pitches in all directions. >> the key is you gotta get the water to flee past this flat area so it doesn't create ponds that people walk into. >> not only that, under the clearance standard, when you put a new ramp we are requiring a 2 foot concrete pan, gutter, attached to basically -- as one with the curb. basically so we don't end up with a situation like this. with lifts. because. >> to steep. going right along the edge of this like that. >> right. that way over time like this this case where the asphalt

deteriorated and produces a stripping hazard for something like this with a deeper the wheel of a wheel chair can get trespassed in there causing the person to fall forward. >> i want to mention this is a substantial public investment. we have to build it in a way that will last for a long time. we can't come back and keep fixes stuff. while we are here let us look at the other strange stuff in front of us at the same time. this says, gas. this is a gas valve in the street. a water department shut off. >> 8 inch pipe. >> 8 inch pipe. over here we have a -- >> catch basin, >> how you fit the catch basins into the ramps is a big issue. all the utility pipes that go

under is a big issue? >> absolutely. in certain cases for a lot of the bigger projects for the big are developments if there is an existing catch basin in the way of a projective curb ramp where there is a crossing, we require the developer or owner to move the catch basin at their cost. >> there is a nuance. if you are doing a project that triggers the sidewalk to be upgraded its the property owners responsibility to upgrade the sidewalk and potentially the curb rachlt. that's on the developer's niccol not the city's niccol. >> that's this thing down here you figure interesting piece of hardware. >> a valve you unscrew and there is something inside there. >> we don't know what that is. >> over here we have -- there is a valve for the firefighter to open ask close the supply to

this. >> the break offs where if someone hits the fire hydrant it snaps here they put a hand crank and turn off the water. unscrew this put a new one of these in. put the fire hydrant down the fire hydrant does not get broken just this. this is a break ah way collar so it doesn't damage the fire hydrant. this says 1995. this is a recent fire hydrant but we will see an older one down the street. >> watch out, pat, don't fall in that hole. what can we say about holes in the sidewalks, who's responsible for maintaining it. >> the fronting property owner. >> what are they supposed to do. >> infill it right now it's a tremendous tripping hazard. it looks like there was supposed

to be a tree in there or there was a tree much >> another problem. because where's the tree. which is a different issue. >> do we inspect this or site them >> the department of public works sidewalk inspect ors and adopted a new sidewalk problem to get property owners to fix their sidewalks. if they don't fix it we fix it and bill them. >> that's the old way. >> we don't do that. similar, basic beeally the cityl have a sidewalk program, i don't know the hundred percent details because its less than a few months old. essentially, same type of notices will be sent to the property owners. > with the notice we give them the option of buying in to the city sidewalk program. >> user friendly city. >> exactly.

>> we will will not fix it and send you a bill. >> you say why not [inaudible] onoption is to fill in with concrete. would be reinstalling the tree? >> there would be a tree required if in many cases there are a new building particularly the planning department has the planting of trees required as part of that construction. that i have to maintain that tree. this is not a new building it may be this is not a required tree. its clearly -- >> if there was a tree here and you got a permit to put it in you don't have a right to take it out without a tree removal permit. i'm reasonably sure there was a tree here. if you want to abandon this you have to post there was a tree ascii permission to remove the tree. >> as we walk let's talk about the other odds and ends.

here's a sewer vent. in san francisco we have sewers coming out from the building ask they is a trap with a vent and from here it goes the street to the sewer ask there is supposed to be a cap. >> so you don't smell the sewer. >> who's responsibility is that. >> property owner. that's a serious tripping hazard. how about this does this meet the requirements of repair? clearly it does. who site this is? sidewalk or street inspection. >> there is a caveat. they are on our dpw website. there is a list of city maintained trees. if not mistaken these are city maintained trees. the city if determined the city maintained tree is uplifting the

sidewalk in this case we look at the roots and figure it out. this is the city's responsibility to fix the sidewalk. >> how do people find out go to the website? >> yeah, go to the website under bureau of urban forestry. sfgov. org has a link from there to all the departments much department of public works and bureau of urban forestry. >> watch your step here. >> general cleaning -- >> not allows to broom the debris to the gutter and walk away. >> unless the morning of the street cleaning. >> you can sweep to the gutter when they street sweep. >> does this clean that up. is gum a problem is this too messy to the city's standards.

there is no code involving sidewalk cleanliness. should be in well maintained condition as the code states. with a number of sidewalk defects around the city, you know -- particularly on -- >> how about when somebody wants to use their own paving do they need approval. >> its allowed it's a sidewalk surface permit. it's required to comply with american standards of protective materials -- we have a minimum code for friction it will need to meet. [inaudible]. over to the 10 plus yearses we have compiled a list of surfaces that are splitted to us or the city used in various projects

that do comply. that -- >> including epoxy coated paint. >> those are specifics in the downtown areas. you have the old sidewalks where you are walking on the ceiling of the basement below laurence mentioned earlier. a lot of times wear and tear, weather. alot of property owners will experience leaking, rainwater leaking to the basement causing health problems maintenance problems et cetera. once every 2 years what they do is take one of the polyurethane coatings with a paint brush or roller and over the sidewalk and tell be like a waterproofing sealant it lasts for a year or 2 depending on the weather. we recommend that they redo it

properly under the current codes where they redue the structural slab and have a 3-1/2 inch concrete topping slab on top. if the sidewalk breaks ever in the future you don't have to go to the replace the stushthureal slab. >> we are talking about slip resistance when they put the coating on top they have to use the right slip resistant material. >> exactly. >> let's walk up here ask see what else we see. we are at brady alley and otis. we have a bunch of interesting things to see. >> the smell. >> thanks. >> we have this old fire hydrant which has the break away added. >> the reason i know about this is my brother is a san francisco

police man. this is to tie the horses up. not the police man's horse the fire man's horse. that's why they have to here and the fire engine would be hauled by horses. they tie up the horse to keep the horse here and hook up the water to the truck. you can tell the vintage of the neighborhood you are in if you start seeing these you are in an older neighborhood. when you get to the richmond or sunset you will not see any of these generation. >> they put the post to keep people fwr driving into it. probably its been hit a couple of times and got smart and got tired of fixing can. >> let's look at cap nets we have the utility cabinets all over the street they are putting them in daily. >> that brings a whole another

issue up. it might be good idea to have a separate brown bag on that. a lot of the old utility boxes are almost like grandfathered in. all the public utility companies, pg and e, at&t, the new telecoms. thermal, nrg which handle the under ground steam pipes they have a franchised right to have facilities in the public right-of-way for free. they pay for community permits which are cheap but with regard to having their utilities run under the pavement in the past have these boxes in the right-of-way. but ever since then we developed we are in the process of developing a new policy with

regards to surface mounted facilities. because with the new technology nowadays we are getting everybody from comcast to at&t to pg & e to any other utility company you can think of requesting not to put anything this big but it come attaching boxes to poles. we have the sidewalks are crowded enough as it is. >> in fact, there is a citiless policy in the planning, general plan of the city that says keep stuff off the sidewalks so people can use sidewalks much the more we put stuff on the sidewalks the more we have to consider is this keep nothing the city's general plan. its a big issue. here is an old one. a lot of times you are taking utilities that were previously under ground in a vault where

they get on their knees and work on and putting them in a cap net because it's easier to service. is this worthwhile for the city to give them this long-term opportunity to occupy city property for the convenience of their service people? you had a question? >> this was one owned by at&t could you require other companies to share it or once its at&t's they keep everybody else out. >> that's an issue we are exploring not only cabinets but the conduits downtown. we are looking for potential subway and they are doing a utility relocation study. you can't imagine how many utilities are under there. on some streets you could take off the pavement and walk on the street on the utilities. we are working not only to share

these cabinets but also conduits. >> i want to point out the street name. on the sidewalk here. brady. otis is there. on the other side. >> do you know why? >> i know -- i'm an expert on the history of san francisco streets. after the 1906 earthquake and where everything burned no one could find where they were. they passed an ordinance it's the 1906 quake and fire that you have to put the street name in the concrete. if and when we have another major fire you can go to the intersection ask say, oh , i know where i am i'm on brady and otis. >> let's walk on up the street here.

we had a question about encroachments we will talk about encroachments as we work our way up the street. one of the first might be this pipe that we see sticking out of the side of the wall of this building. do we consider that an encroachment to the public right-of-way. >> no. because it is more than -- well -- i'm not sure its close. approximately anything 10 feet above the sidewalk surface, 8 feet for aunings is under the jurisdiction of the building department. >> and planning. planning it is not allow you to hang anything so far across the swaik sidewalks. as we look up the street and see bay windows. >> bay windows are part of building permits and planning requirements. >> beautiful arrow that served

the old car repair shop is that an encroachment is this >> no. it requires a permit. >> from the dbi and planning. [inaudible]. >> no. it either has to be flushed or high enough for a blind person to detect it. ask also we would look at the remaining paths of travel. typically, a foot of a properly done tree well, properly done. this is not properly done. either has to be flush with the sidewalk. could be a tree great and that could be used as the top of travel. >> minimum of 4 feet, that is required by american with disabilities act. at pinch point where you have situations like street light poles, no parking signs or

things like that, that 48 inch can be reduced to as little as 32 inches. >> how does that comply here. what would -- >> they would have to either raise this, >> how high is this >> about a foot. there is no regulation as far as height. >> [inaudible] has to allow water to pass through it. 6-15. >> 6-15 inches high and allow water to pass through to meet the new [inaudible]. okay. >> is that 4 feet wide you are standing on? >> right here? >> the trick is most are roughly 39 inches by 39 inches much that looks like a 40 tops. may be i'm wrong. >> 45. >> you were getting close. >> if they made this flush to

the sidewalk we would sense ibly have to clear -- >> paving surface in the well. >> okay. >> this has a wide sidewalk could you have planter boxes against the building and then 4 feet and trees on the other side. >> yes. >> doesn't matter where [inaudible]. >> should be a straight line. should be a straight shot. like if your neighbor has something similar it should be because when a blind person or a person in a wheel chair come up from the curb ramp they expect a straight line and not a zig-zag. >> i want to point out the most beautiful pieces of sidewalk and would aboutingent reese much this is gorgeous and perfectly done absolutely gorgeous, when are the elements that make this

so good and comply. under the ada the building department requires a landing on the outside of any entry that's level, considered quarter inch per foot or 2 percent. as you know this san francisco we have a lot of sidewalks that are a lot steeper than 2 percent. the trick is, how do you acomidate a landing a flat landing at an entry in the middle of a sidewalk that happens to slope -- >> away from the building. and longitudinally at a slope like this? it wasn't easy but we created guidelines with regard to feathering out the sidewalk. >> you can look at this one. here we are. here it's 2 percent.

this is this meets the definition of level. more or less. 2 percent and meets the slope. what was previously a sloping sidewalk but you see over here they raise today a bit to make a smooth transition to the existing sidewalk. >> also raised the curb to make it flatter in this direction and the feathering going down is nicely done. >> it is. >> very difficult to do. >> the curb height transition was basically required that if the curb stayed at its original height probably 2 inches lower than it is now. this slope on the sidewalked have been too steep and a person in a wheel chair like this gentlemen could have easily tipped in this direction. that's, you know, when we are raising curbs we are looking out

we check what is there. if there is no parking at any time that's our favorite. there you can go to daylight you can do an 8 inch curb, typically. >> that's the average curb height is this >> 6. >> 6 is considered the city standard. if you stand here ask look at that end the curb is 3 inches high much here its 7. down there is drops to 4 or 5. they gracefully raise today ask feathered it out. >> this is an interesting piece of curb. take a look at this. here we have the new concrete curbs ask here we have an old piece of granite. anybody know more details of that. we used to have granite curbs around the city are we replacing

them? >> typically the old the narrow granite curbs if they are in shapes like this we typically remove and replace with concrete. >> 8 inches downtown, >> exactly. downtown in the civic center and historic district is one location. you will see curbs that are wider may be the width of my foot. 12 inches wide. in cases like that. the city considers those historic curbs they go from way back >> this is historic in its own way. >> in its own way. >> the interesting thing is is this is an interesting color of granite this is atypical color because it has orange. >> let's look at another issue all over the city and it has to do with this door. this is a door that's hinged to swing out over the